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Victoria's crime rate on the rise again

Nino Bucci and Yolanda Redrup

Crime against the person climbed 0.2 per cent in the past year, with crime against property increasing by 0.7 per cent. Photo: Paul Harris

The crime rate has increased for the third year in a row, fuelled by family violence and drug-related offending, prompting Chief Commissioner Ken Lay to again urge a move away from traditional policing.

Crime increased by 3.7 per cent in 2013-14, as a rate per 100,000 people, with an increase of 18.7 per cent in handling stolen goods offences, 16 per cent in deception offences, increases of about 10 per cent in theft of and from motor vehicle offences and a 7.5 per cent jump in sex offences (non-rape).

In the past decade, the number of methylamphetamine, or ice, related offences has jumped from 62 to 3813. There were 65,000 family violence offences recorded last year, a huge leap since the 35,000 recorded five years ago.

The rising tide of crime.

Crime against the person climbed 0.2 per cent in the past year, with crime against property increasing by 0.7 per cent.

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Arson, theft and abduction offences all dropped by more than 10 per cent.

The latest statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

Mr Lay said crimes that fell into the "other" category, such as weapons or explosives offences and justice procedures, had also driven the increase.

He said problems caused by the drug ice would not be solved simply with harsher sentences, only hours after Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews unveiled a policy targeting ice users that included new offences and maximum penalties of 25 years' imprisonment.

"We cannot arrest our way out of the ice problem," he said.

"I have not seen the amount of harm from other drugs ... like I've seen with ice."

There was an increase in family violence-related assaults (up 6.2 per cent), but non family violence-related assaults fell (down 1.8 per cent).

Mr Lay said family violence pushed up the crime statistics in the other crime category because of breaches of court orders.

"Here comes this theme again, which runs through most of the crime data - family violence, family violence, family violence," he said.

"Not once do I recall family violence being spoken about as an election issue ... now it is.

"Now we need to move the discussion to how we stop the numbers getting to the courts."

Police Minister Kim Wells said the rising crime rate was due to the injection of 1700 new police and 940 protective services officers since 2010. He said family violence incidents would start to "plateau" in the next 12 months.

But Mr Lay said while women were starting to stand up and say "enough is enough", he was not convinced the number of incidents of family violence would flat line next year.

"The statisticians do some work that indicates the numbers may plateau in the next 12-18 months. I'm not convinced," he said. "We've still got an enormous number of unreported family violence incidents out there."

Mr Lay said it was important the force became more flexible, saying that while front-line officers would always be the backbone of the organisation, the approach taken to family violence had demonstrated the value of alternate policing models.

"The crime landscape is changing and Victoria Police needs to evolve with it to ensure we keep up with things such as rapidly changing technology which has resulted in new ways of committing crime as well as new types of crime.

"These issues will continue to be a challenge for us into the future."

Fairfax Media reported on Tuesday that the latest salvo between Mr Lay's office and the Police Association involved trial rosters in several regional stations, as Mr Wells ordered a review of similar changes on the Bellarine Peninsula. Mr Wells said the review would allow Bellarine locals to have their say, despite force command saying repeatedly that the community had been consulted.

There was a rise in motor vehicle thefts of 9.2 per cent, with Mr Lay saying that 87 per cent of all car thefts in the past year could be attributed to four gangs operating in the north-west and eastern suburbs.

He said increases in deception and theft from motor vehicle offences could be attributed to the spread of credit card technology that does not require a PIN.

Mr Andrews said on Radio 3AW on Wednesday that Labor would introduce new measures to tackle ice usage, including a taskforce and four new criminal offences, should it be elected at the November election. The measures would be introduced in Labor's first 100 days in office.

Mr Wells said this 100 days would be a "talk fest".

"We're getting on with it and locking these people up."

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).

The statistics compare the 12 months to June 2014 with the 12 months to June 2013.

The overall recorded crime rate across the state has increased by 3.7 per cent, measured as a rate per 100,000 of the population which is standard across Australia. The total number of offences recorded is up by 5.7 per cent (up 23,217 offences to a total of 433,718 offences).